Help us remember the 1946 Pilbara Strike
Donation protected
May 1st (May Day) this year marks the 75th anniversary of the 1946 Pilbara Strike, when Aboriginal pastoral workers walked off stations across the Pilbara region and established a new kind of Aboriginal community independent of the colonialist regime that had long dominated their lives. The three-year-long strike was an historic event in Australian history: it was the first major strike by Aboriginal people in Western Australia and one of the longest strikes in Australian history.
The strike also gained significant support from non-Aboriginal supporters ‘down south’, including church and women's groups, lawyers, trade unions and the Australian Communist Party. The movement not only reshaped colonial race relations in Western Australia, but also helped to inspire later and better known acts of Aboriginal resistance, including the 1966 Wave Hill walk off that initiated the Aboriginal land rights movement in the Northern Territory, and the 1980 Noonkanbah blockade in the Kimberley region.
Sadly, the Pilbara strike is largely a footnote in the 'official' view of Western Australian history. However, the Remembering the Pilbara Strike committee is committed to changing that. Based in Fremantle, we are made up of Perth-based Aboriginal people with links to the Pilbara, land council staff, historians, anthropologists, trade unionists, writers, musicians, artists, film makers and others.
However, we need your help.
Your contributions to this fund will enable us to host events to mark this anniversary, including a concert at Fremantle Workers Club on 1st May, featuring musicians Lois Olney, David Milroy, David Hyams, Mike Burns & David Johnson .
Please give generously to help make this and other commemorative events possible.
The strike also gained significant support from non-Aboriginal supporters ‘down south’, including church and women's groups, lawyers, trade unions and the Australian Communist Party. The movement not only reshaped colonial race relations in Western Australia, but also helped to inspire later and better known acts of Aboriginal resistance, including the 1966 Wave Hill walk off that initiated the Aboriginal land rights movement in the Northern Territory, and the 1980 Noonkanbah blockade in the Kimberley region.
Sadly, the Pilbara strike is largely a footnote in the 'official' view of Western Australian history. However, the Remembering the Pilbara Strike committee is committed to changing that. Based in Fremantle, we are made up of Perth-based Aboriginal people with links to the Pilbara, land council staff, historians, anthropologists, trade unionists, writers, musicians, artists, film makers and others.
However, we need your help.
Your contributions to this fund will enable us to host events to mark this anniversary, including a concert at Fremantle Workers Club on 1st May, featuring musicians Lois Olney, David Milroy, David Hyams, Mike Burns & David Johnson .
Please give generously to help make this and other commemorative events possible.
Organizer
Nick Everett
Organizer
Bibra Lake, WA